“And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.’” – Leviticus 19:2
Our God is holy, holy, holy! Here there’s both good news and challenging news for followers of Jesus. The good news is that in Christ, we are made holy by Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. We are cleansed and purified by the blood of Christ. Our holiness comes not by our action but by God’s grace, poured out through faith in Jesus Christ. We are truly holy, because the Lord is holy.
The challenging news is that we’re also called to pursue the holiness of Christ in our own lives! We’re called to imitate Jesus, to follow Him, to grow in our spiritual and behavioral resemblance to Him. This means that though we’re made holy by Christ, we’re also called to eagerly pursue personal holiness. We can’t simply use God’s amazing grace as an excuse to continue indulging personal sin and unholiness. Such behavior cheapens and disrespects the grace Christ paid for on the cross.
We must grow in our awareness of sin in our hearts, minds, and bodies. Then we must seek to crucify that sin! We must put to death those sins closest to us, the ones within us we like to indulge, excuse, or ignore. The battle will be terrible, but God is with us in this battle! The battle will be terrible, but the closeness we’ll experience with God as we fight and win will be extraordinary. Be holy, for the Lord your God is holy!